Ezra 3-10.4.22

SCRIPTURE:

Ezra 3:1

"In the first year of Cyrus King of Persia, the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The Lord put it into the mind of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom..."The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah."

OBSERVATION:

Jeremiah had prophesied about the 70-year long Babylonian captivity, and it was God Who "put it into the mind" of the pagan king, Cyrus to cause Jeremiah's prophecy to be fulfilled.

Even though Cyrus worshipped various pagan gods, after he had an encounter with the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was made very clear to him that the temple in Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, so... he, on his own free will made the decision to release the Jews from exile in Babylon, and allow God's people to go to Jerusalem in Judah to build the house of the Lord.

UNDERSTANDING:

Our God is sovereign and He is ultimately in total control of everything that happens on earth. He promised that His people would live in the promised land, and worship Him there, and He kept that promise.

God, in His sovereignty caused Cyrus to not only allow Ezra to go to Jerusalem, but he also gave him tons of silver and gold to furnish the temple!

The book of Ezra teaches us about God's sovereignty, and that God always fulfills His promises! He also teaches us about God's power to renew, and lastly Ezra reminds us that in order to carry out God's purposes in the world, we must keep our thoughts on Him and His eternal purposes, and make sure that our desires line up with His Word as we are led by His Spirit.

LIFE APPLICATION:

God's sovereign actions are always at work. I am so grateful for His gentle promptings. He goes before us, and leads us on the path of peace and joy as we submit to Him, and follow His ways, and even when it appears that there is no way out of certain situations, God is there to help us when we pray to Him. I praise our Sovereign God Who "puts it in our heart's" to do certain things...so that when we are alerted to opportunities, we can be used by Him to help accomplish His plans and purposes.

-Robin Orefice